California Apparel News

Australian surfwear giant Billabong International Ltd. announced on Aug. 20 that it will sell its e-commerce businesses, Swell.com, headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and SurfStitch.com, which is based in Australia.

In a Billabong statement, the company stated that it will sell 100 percent of Swell and a 51 percent stake in SurfStitch to a group of investors, which include SurfStitch founders Justin Cameron and Lex Pedersen. The transaction will be conditional on the completion of a funding process being wrapped up by the SurfStitch founders. The funding process is scheduled to be wrapped up on Aug. 25. Billabong is expected to make $32.4 million, or 35 million Australian dollars, from the transaction.

Neil Fiske, Billabong’s chief executive officer, said that the sale will help his company reach its goals, listed in a strategic review issued last year, which intended to turn around the company’s business.

“With these agreements we can accelerate our investment in the online presence and digital marketing of [company] brands such as Billabong, RVCA and Element, which will engage our core consumers and in turn benefit the wider business,” he said in a prepared statement.

Billabong also will enter into agreements to continue wholesaling its brands’ products to SurfStitch and Swell, according to a Billabong statement.